PARANORMAL ACTIVITY: THE MARKED ONES

US, 2014, 84 minutes, Colour.
José Diaz, Andrew Jacobs, Gabrielle Walshe.
Directed by Christopher Landon.

A Paranormal Activity film has become an annual event, celebrated by the faithful fans of the series. They have capitalised on their title, also capitalising on the number of films which have used hand-held cameras to observe the minutiae of the spaces under continued surveillance. They also have capitalised on found footage of episodes from the past. They have tended to focus on a particular family, its history over the decades of strange movements in the night, poltergeist experiences, evil powers and their presence.

There is something of the same in this edition but it is quite different, different family, different settings.

The film opens cheerfully with a high school graduation in California, the speech of the valedictorian urging change as the means to go into the future. Actually, he and some of the others do not survive very far into the future…

The action takes place in a Hispanic section of a Californian town. Jesse, the main character, has a camera, which – as in the other films – he uses in all circumstances, even when they are implausible. He and his friend Hector, who also takes over the camera work times, seem to be living a fairly idle kind of life, a touch of drugs, a touch of sex, and not much interest in anything else except the camera.

But, there are noises and bumps downstairs and, with nothing better to do, they decide to explore. Lowering the camera down the chute, they discover a naked woman and a seemingly Satanic ritual going on. Then the woman dies. And their friend Oscar runs screaming from the house.

As with the more recent Paranormal Activity films, the screenplay takes a bit of time to get going, in the sense that it creates atmosphere rather than makes audiences jump from their seats. Though there are some of these scenes later on, especially at the end, which probably means that the fans leave the cinema laughing at their fears and jumps, satisfied with what they have experienced, and looking forward to the next instalment.

After a lot of ordinary events, seeming a bit like padding, Jesse, Hector and Marisol, decide to try some Ouija experiments. But, the battery-run, technicolour surface toy that they use does seem a touch ludicrous as it highlights the green panel for a yes and the red panel for a no.

If you intend to go to see this film, this review, in terms of plot, needs to end here. Some bad things happen to Jesse, and to the cheerful grandmother who gave a bit of a human dimension to the early story. As might be expected from seeing the Satanic ritual, a coven of midwives is discovered, the characters go to the house, camera in hand even in less credible situations, and… Shocks and jumps and we’re ready for the next film in the series. (The coven, with its midwives ‘marking’ some babies to be possessed at age 18 offers a link with the earlier films, the girls and their grandmother.)

1. The popularity of the series, the fans?

2. The title, audience expectations, from the previous films, the focus on the families, rooms? Haunting and poltergeists? Evil presences? Dangers? Fear and tension? Shocks?

3. The title, the addition to the title? The Californian community, Hispanic, friends, life and style, curiosity? Anna and the rituals? The coven? The bites in the arms of chosen children? Ordinary life, the grandmother, the gangs, fun, change, the Ouija Toy, Jesse possessed, the coven, the confrontation? The dire end for the characters?

4. The hand-held camera, its effect? Continual movement? Fixed camera? The credibility of the camera, the characters holding it, in all the circumstances in the film, especially the climax? The change of operators? Jesse with the camera, the mirror sequences, Hector with the camera? The editorial cuts?

5. The graduation, the speech, the advocate advocacy of change? The introduction to the characters and their world?

6. Jesse and Hector, friends, the celebrations, their grandmother, her cheerfulness, the girls and their compliments? Jesse and Hector and their fooling around? Family? The noises downstairs? The camera lowered down the chute, the naked woman, the ritual? The introduction of the themes? The room with the tapes? The murder?

7. Jesse and Hector and their searching the rooms, despite the police tape? Getting more information? Oscar and his leaping out of the house? The confrontation with Oscar, his being marked, his death?

8. The Ouija toy, credibility, its look, plastic, the colours, yes and no? The effect on the three?

9. Jesse, his life, casual, drugs, with Penelope, the prospect of sex, her willingness?

10. The hole in the floor, Oscar appearing, Penelope and the effect?

11. Jesse, changing, becoming hostile?

12. The information from the woman about the coven? The visit to the room with all the information about the coven?

13. The gangs in the sector, the physical attacks?

14. Jesse possessed, Hector and Marisol, his being in the car, the crash, Jesse taken by the coven?

15. The house, the evil presences, the camera exploring the house, his tension, frights and jumps, the deaths?

16. The audience enjoying this kind of story and anticipating the next in the series?